It was a shock, especially because her father had died nearly four years earlier, on Feb. 5, 2002, at age 69.

Through the O'Donnell Funeral Home in Lowell, Rouleau learned that her father's body had been cremated. And that the woman who ordered the ultimate act of disposal was her sister, Laura. And that Laura had represented herself to the funeral home as Harold Kelley's only child.

[snip]

"I don't know what the reason for this is," says Rouleau, 44. "But what is a good enough reason to keep my father's death from me? If you hate me, fine, great. But when my father passes away, you don't keep that a secret."